Rethinking Audience Engagement in Museums: Progress-Space Research Meets Value Realization

Throughout my career, I’ve observed museums grappling with the challenge of meaningfully engaging and diversifying their audiences. Many current approaches rely heavily on demographic data, often failing to capture the motivations and goals that drive behavior. Additionally, well-intentioned change efforts frequently stall due to various organizational constraints. I’m pleased to share that I’ve been working with @Kyle Bowen to explore a different approach. We’re combining MaP’s Progress-Space Research methodology with the Value Realization Process I’ve developed to offer a framework that focuses on understanding and supporting the goals of the people institutions serve. We're inviting museum leaders to participate in an information session on October 17. In this session, Kyle and I will discuss: • Why we believe combining these methodologies could lead to more effective audience engagement • How this approach might be applied in various museum contexts • An overview of a proposed year-long program to test and refine this approach • Your questions and considerations as potential participants This session is designed for museum leaders who are: • Interested in new approaches to audience engagement • Willing to critically examine their current practices • Open to collaborating on developing and testing new ideas How to participateRegistration for this session is now closed. If you cannot attend on October 17 but are interested in this initiative, email [email protected] to request more information. I look forward to exploring this approach with you and learning from your experiences and perspectives. If you’re curious about how this approach might apply to your institution, I welcome your participation in this conversation.